


ewige dunkelheit

by amako



Category: Naruto
Genre: Abortion, Angst with a Happy Ending, Based on a Tumblr Post, Dubious Consent, Dubious Ethics, Dubious Morality, Gen, I wrote this for fourteen hours straight so forgive the mistakes, Konoha Village, Misogyny, Women Being Awesome, this is all ilah's fault
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-03-09
Updated: 2018-03-09
Packaged: 2019-03-29 04:52:05
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,756
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13919766
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/amako/pseuds/amako
Summary: "The war reduced the civilian population by almost two third,” she says, and it sounds like she's repeating something. “Civilians are necessary to vary the gene pool, otherwise children will be weak. It makes sense.""I'm clanless, you know. It makes sense."





	ewige dunkelheit

**Author's Note:**

> I read meta about children in the shinobi world, and though I disagreed with what the op said, I found the subject interesting and it got me thinking. This monster is what came out of the thinking. I have theformerone to thank for the brainstomring and continuous support.
> 
> Title: two songs from my favourite band, The Blue Angel Lounge (Ewig & Mutter)
> 
> I'm not a native speaker, so if you find mistakes, kindly point them out so I can correct them!

It started with Tenten.

 

The war is over. Rebuilding the village took them two years of sweat and grieving, but now they have something that resembles what used to be Konoha before everything went to hell.

They lost a lot, of course. The Nara Clan Head will never walk on his lands again. Shikamaru is burdened with caring for dozens of families plagued by the remains of the war. Neji will probably never be a shinobi again. His heart, seriously wounded by one of the spikes, is too weak to handle the stress.

Sasuke and Naruto, both missing an arm, are probably the only ones who seem to have gained something from the war.

Peace is back, missions are starting again and money is starting to get back into the village.

And it started with Tenten.

 

The girls don't hang out much together. It's part their personality, and part the fact that they're all closer to their team than the others. As open as Konoha is when it comes to equality regarding who's good canon folder, the onsen is still one of the only place where it would be a problem for all of them to mix.

They have, once, when the onsen was rebuilt about six months prior. They rented the whole place and all the Konoha 11 went on the same side of the fence, enjoying the feeling of a group, of comrades alive and breathing besides them.

This time though, the four of them are together, relaxing in the hot water. If there is one thing being a shinobi taught them, it's that your body is a tool and modesty has no place in your life. Also, there is no better feeling that someone else's strong hands massaging your shoulders as you bathe.

Sakura notices first, because she's a medic and human anatomy was drilled into her for years, as well as what chakra should feel like in a healthy woman. She wonders for a second if maybe she should stay quiet, but the fact is that Tenten willingly came with them and got naked in front of the best medic in the world, so if she had any problems with it, she probably wouldn't be there.

So Sakura grins her most blinding smile and wraps an arm around Tenten's shoulders.

 

“Congrats! How long has it been?”

 

Ino and Hinata turn to look at them with puzzled faces, as Tenten visibly blanches. Sakura's face smooths, realizing she apparently made a mistake.

 

“What? What is it?” Ino asks, leaning over with curiosity.

 

Sakura stares as Tenten squares her shoulder and flexes her arms, like she's about to go into battle. She notices the tension in her jaw and the wide eyes Tenten is so desperately trying to hide. Something is wrong.

 

“I'm pregnant,” Tenten whispers, faking a smile so obviously that even Ino squirms uncomfortably.

“Tenten, are you okay?” Sakura says softly, her eyes never leaving the pulse in her friend's neck, beating frantically.

 

Then Hinata lays a gentle hand on Tenten's shoulder, and it's enough. Their strong, independent friend breaks down in ugly sobs.

Hinata makes a high panicked noise before wrapping Tenten in a hug, Sakura slowly stroking her hair at the same time. Ino slipped between them, embracing Tenten from behind and rocking her softly. They're whispering quiet reassurances for what seems like hours before Tenten calms down, her limbs shaking like she's coming back from a mission.

 

“Do you want to tell one of us? We can leave if you don't want the three of us to hear,” Sakura offers.

“Or you can say nothing too,” Hinata adds, pressing a kiss to Tenten's cheek.

“No, you deserve to know.” She takes a deep breath. “I don't want this to happen to any of you.”

 

Ino scowls and Hinata bares her teeth, a perfect replica of her teammate's snarl.

 

“Tenten,” Sakura chokes on her name, before swallowing with difficulty. “Did someone assault you?”

She looks horrified. “No! No, nothing like that!”

 

The shared sigh of relief makes them dizzy.

 

“I was...”

 

Tenten looks at the sky.

 

“I'm clanless, you know, it makes sense.”

 

They stay quiet, waiting for the young woman to keep going.

 

“The war reduced the civilian population by almost two third,” she says, and it sounds like she's repeating something. “Civilians are necessary to vary the gene pool, otherwise children will be weak. It makes sense,” she repeats.

 

“What does, Tenten?” Hinata says softly. Tenten looks at her with pleading eyes, like she's begging for forgiveness.

“I got assigned a B-rank. I give two children to the Hyūga in two years and I can go back to fighting.”

“You _what?_ ” Hinata's voice breaks on the last word, her white eyes filling with tears.

“Oh gods...” Ino is pressing the heel of her palms into her eyelids, hysterical laughter escaping from her throat.

 

Sakura is silent. Tenten raises shell-shocked eyes to meet hers and Sakura doesn't move. Tenten can't stop the low keening sound from leaving her mouth. Hinata looks at Sakura, the strongest shinobi the world has ever seen, who lifted literal mountains to help them win the war.

Sakura is silent.

 

“Please,” Tenten is pleading, her hands hovering close to Sakura, like she's stopping herself from touching her.

 

Sakura swallows. She blinks, slowly.

 

“I— I got the same mission.”

“Kami, no,” Hinata breathes.

“I didn't go to the hospital yet. They want, they want the Hatake bloodline. I think Kakashi-sensei's dad signed something, I don't know. In any case, they don't need anyone's permission to do this.”

 

Ino shakes her head. “Why would you ever take those missions? No assignment is mandatory!”

Sakura lets out a bitter laugh. “Says the Yamanaka heir.”

 

Tenten doesn't say anything, but her twisted smile says it all.

 

“We're clanless, Pig. Everything is mandatory for us.”

“You owe the government for teaching you. It's time you repay that debt,” Tenten says, obviously quoting someone.

“You're kidding!” Hinata screeches, horrified.

“Ah, I wish. Have you met the Council?” Sakura snorts.

 

They're all quiet for a moment, the silence heavy around them.

 

“Did they ask you to- did you have to sleep with one of my clansmen?” Hinata whispers, like voicing the question is hurting her.

Tenten shakes her head. “They sent me to the hospital, it's a medical procedure.”

“I can't believe this,” Ino says, her hands shaking in the hot water. “Do you know if the Yamanaka...”

“I don't know, sorry,” Tenten says, and Sakura shakes her head too.

“This is so fucked up. I don't understand how they can... you're sure there was no way for you to say no?”

 

Tenten is biting her lips, looking exhausted, so Sakura shrugs and explains.

 

“Think about it for a second. Where do you get your weapons?”

“The armoury in the compound.”

“Right. And you, Hinata, where do you get the medical plants for your ointments and poisons?”

“From the clan's gardens.”

“Do you pay for your kunai, Pig?”

Ino scoffs. “Of course not. It's like making them pay for my flowers.”

“Okay. Then why do I pay for your flowers?”

“Because you're not- oh.”

 

Sakura moves her hand in a “see?” manner.

 

“Tenten spends millions of ryō every year on weapons. I have to buy all my lab equipment. If I want a kunai sharpened, I go to the blacksmith. I pay for my food, I pay for my house, I pay for my weapons.”

“Do you know how much they give me for this mission?” Tenten says in a quiet voice.

 

Sakura crosses her arms over her chest, daring Ino to guess. The blond doesn't say anything.

 

“One million ryō per child. If I give them a third one in the next four years, I get two millions more.”

 

Hinata gasps. Ino clenches her teeth, feeling disgusting and betrayed by her own village.

 

Sakura offers them a wry smile. “If the child I'm supposed to pop out doesn't have the Hatake genes, I only get a third of the mission's pay and I have to raise it on my own.”

“Three millions ryō is more than I make in one year. And that's them being nice. What if they decide to honourably discharge me?”

“They can't do that!”

Tenten's features soften. “Of course they can. Your clan would back you up, if they did that to you. You would have a job ready for you if they got their way. Who's gonna help me?”

 

Sakura shrugs, nodding, before dropping to her chin in the hot water. The knot in her throat is threatening to overwhelm her. She never expected her friends to hear about it. She thought she was the only one, and so did Tenten, it appears. It's twice as horrifying, now.

 

Ino frowns. “There must be a way!”

“Unless we get adopted into a clan, no, there's no way. We're clanless. It's as much our identity as being shinobi.”

“Then I'll adopt you,” Hinata says fiercely.

“Last I checked, Hinata-chan, you're not Clan Head.”

“Well, I am!” Ino says. “I can adopt you.”

“Acting Clan Head only, until your father heals. And can you, though?”

Ino sends Sakura a puzzled look.

“If I remember what you explained about the Yamanaka, your clan is council-based. Seven of your best shinobi plus the Clan Head have to all agree to make a decision. If one of them veto it, it's over.”

“They wouldn't dare. You're my friends!”

 

Sakura shrugs again.

 

“Do what you want, Pig. Let us know how it went.”

 

The next day, in an everyone-for-themselves fight between the Konoha 11, Ino takes them to the side.

 

“They're bastards, all of them.”

“How many?”

“Four vetoed your adoption.”

“I told you so,” Sakura says, sighing.

 

An explosive kunai detonates half a metre from their head and they all move aside.

 

“Gotcha!” Kiba screams.

“We're not done talking,” Hinata says. “Come to the Compound next week.”

 

Then they all jump back into the fight.

 

The Hyūga Compound is always quiet. It's in part its inhabitants' habits and in part the secretive nature of shinobi. It suits them fine as Hinata guides them to her part of the main house.

 

“I had Naruto-kun put silence seals all around my quarters after he started getting obsessed with fūinjutsu. Practice for him and convenience for me.”

Ino ruffles her hair. “Good for you, Hinata! You should always use all the resources at your disposal.”

“My teammate isn't a resource,” Sakura grumbles quietly, but she's smiling.

 

They all settle down in Hinata's bedroom, skewers upon skewers of dango before them, some omurice, katsudon and tempura steaming slowly. They start to eat, easy conversation flowing between them. It's incredible what mutual disgust for one's village can do to budding friendships.

Sakura gets to see another side to Hinata, who she's always seen through the spectrum of her infatuation with Naruto. Ino and Tenten share hair tips, Tenten marvelling at the blond's ability to let it loose during missions without getting cut by accident.

The subject is never far, though, and Hinata gets back to it as they pour mitarashi sauce over their sweets.

 

“I got in touch with Temari-san,” she says. “I inquired as to what their law says on the matter, and what is commonly accepted.”

 

Hinata chews on her dango.

 

“I feel like I should censor her response, so let's just say she was very disappointed in Konoha.”

Sakura raises her eyebrow in surprise. “It doesn't exist in Suna?”

“Well, for one, they don't have kekkai-genkai, so passing the bloodline is far less important for them. Secondly, they have the largest civilian population of the Nations, mixing gene pools has never been a problem.”

“That's a surprise. I wouldn't have thought them so... righteous.”

“It's not moral sense, it's pragmatism. Why would they bench shinobi to have children when they need the money from taking missions? They're one of the poorest village, it makes sense.”

Ino nods. “I'm feeling a lot of kinship for Suna, suddenly.”

 

Hinata puts down her skewer and straightens her shoulders.

 

“I have made a decision. In the light of current discoveries, I am suddenly feeling very disloyal. As it is, Konoha Central would never agree to help me, so I was hoping you would, Sakura. However, if I can't get your help, Temari-san offered Suna Central's contribution.”

“Tell me, and I'll see what I can do.”

“I want you to sterilize me.”

 

Tenten chokes on her dango, Ino absent-mindedly patting her back as she stares at Hinata in shock.

 

“That- that's a huge decision, Hinata,” Sakura says with difficulty.

“I realize that, and I have thought about it in length. I do not wish to have children who will be raised in the mindset my clan is currently supporting. I do not wish to have children who will grow up in a village where their friends might be asked to _sell_ their babies in the name of loyalty.”

Hinata looks absolutely furious. “Above all, I want to be a strong kunoichi and keep doing my job until I die on a battlefield or in my sleep. There is no way I will be asked to settle down to produce the future of my self-centred clan while the men fight.”

 

Sakura takes a deep breath, the emotion tightening her throat.

 

“I am not opposed to helping you, but you have to be _sure_ , okay? I don't want you to regret this.”

“I won't, Sakura-chan. But if it makes you feel better, I can wait a few more days.”

“Days? Kami-sama, you're serious. You actually want to do this,” Sakura breathes.

“I do.”

 

Hinata takes another skewer and looks at the pointy end like she's considering using it against someone very soon.

 

“I also have something for you, Tenten-chan.”

 

She puts the skewer down and hands an envelope to her friend, both hands on the paper like the respectful woman she is. Tenten takes it and looks briefly at Hinata, to make sure it's fine to open it in front of her. Then she peeks inside and her small screech makes Ino jump.

 

“Hinata, what-”

“It's from my personal funds, which I can use however I see fit.”

“I can't-”

“Nonsense, of course you can accept it, and you will. Now, I can't decide for you, and it definitely isn't my place. But my clan doesn't deserve your precious children, Tenten. I certainly won't judge you if you decide not to keep it.”

 

Ino makes an offended noise, but Sakura privately nods. With the disturbance in the chakra points, she'd say Tenten is perhaps three weeks in, one month tops. Plenty of time to make a decision before putting an end to it would threaten her life.

Then she has to look again because Hinata is handing her another envelope and Sakura accepts it with a dry mouth. She can guess what she'll find inside. It's still baffling to see the orange notes, a colour she's pretty sure to never have held in her hands before. There is at least two millions ryō in there.

Sakura knows herself. She's hot-headed and rash, sometimes rude and always standing for herself. She only has a short time to curse her poor decision making before her will settles and she looks up to Hinata with her jaw set.

 

“I'll do the surgery on myself first. I don't want to injure you.”

“Forehead!”

“Shut up, Ino.”

 

Hinata is looking at her with teary eyes, the white shining brightly in the golden light of the room.

 

“I'll need two days to brush up on my anatomy and do it. I'll let you know how it went and I can take care of you before the end of the week.”

“That is a relief, Sakura-chan, thank you.”

 

Ino groans, before crossing her arms.

 

“What the hell, do me too.”

Hinata looks at her, startled. “Ino-chan?”

“Pig, this isn't a competition. You get nothing from doing this.”

Ino snorts. “I get dignity and the power to fuck the council over. Also pregnancy is gross and it would ruin my silhouette.”

“I'm serious, Ino. You can't do this just because.”

“I'm serious too, Forehead. I have never been more serious in my entire life.”

 

Sakura did need to brush up on her anatomy, but she's surprised to see how much information she can find on the surgery now that she's actively looking. Apparently, it was a very common practice in the Warring States Period and the Nara documented it pretty heavily.

An hour before performing the surgery on herself, she feels nauseous. She never really imagined herself with children, but it's one of those things you simply expect to get to at one point in her life. If she does it right – and she will, best medic in the world and all that – then there will be no turning back. She won't ever have biological children.

But it only takes her a minute to think back to the mission desk where a grim Kotetsu handed her the specifics of her assignment. Then all she can think of is the distress in Tenten's eyes and the shame, the burning shame every time she has to make do with dull kunai because she can't afford another trip to the weaponsmith. They do _not_ deserve any of this shit, not because they're female and certainly not because they're clanless.

She sacrificed many things to become the woman she is, and yet it's the first time she doesn't feel like losing a part of herself to become even greater.

It's fucking painful, because she's doing it on herself so she can't knock herself out to not feel anything. She numbs a few nerves here and there but it's all she can do. There's blood everywhere and it's a pretty disgusting experience, all in all. When she's done, red coating the skin of her lower belly and drying on the floor, she snorts, before down right laughing her ass off in the bathtub of her now-pinkish bathroom.

She did it. She actually did it. Thanks to Hinata, she doesn't have to worry about money for a while, and her body is more hers than it has ever been.

Now that she knows what to expect, the surgery on her friends is ridiculously easy. They fall asleep for an hour and wake up feeling exactly like they did before. The first thing Ino does is unwrapping her bandages, no matter how much Sakura yells at her not to do it. Then she's faced with her pristine skin, free of any scar (because Sakura is just _that_ good, thank you very much) and the smile she offers her oldest friend brightens the whole room.

Because they aren't, in fact, well-balanced and healthy human beings, the three of them get insanely drunk that night. They toast to approximatively everything that comes to mind, including Neji's ass and the ramen in Naruto's pantry. Sakura wakes up in her pink-tainted tub, Ino draped over her as Hinata empties her stomach in the toilets, because an asshole is knocking on her door and disrupting her wards.

The asshole turns out to be Tenten with bags of hangover food, so Sakura lets her in and she drags Ino out of the bathroom by the ponytail. It's a normal day in Konoha.

 

“I think I'll take Temari's offer,” Tenten tells them over shijimi clam soup, umeboshi, ochakuze and three pints each of ukon no chikara.

“I could do it for you,” Sakura says softly.

Tenten nods. “I know, and I appreciate that. But you're my friend and I don't want this to hurt you more that it's already going to hurt me. At least in Suna, no one knows me and I don't know anyone. I can deal with it alone.”

“Okay,” Sakura says around the lump in her throat.

“What will you tell the Hyūga?” Ino asks.

“I trained too hard and lost the baby. It's my fault so they'll fail the mission. I won't get paid and they won't ask any questions.”

 

Ino growls, looking furious.

 

“This is such bullshit. I can't believe they're treating _children_ as mission parameters.”

“We are allowed to drink alcohol since we're twelve and I killed a man at thirteen, Ino-chan,” Hinata says in a playful tone. It actually works in lifting the atmosphere and they all giggle stupidly at the idea. Yeah, definitely not well-adjusted human beings.

 

Team Gai takes a vacation to Suna on Tenten's recommendation and they come back a week later with a sun-kissed Lee, a lobster-red Neji and a glowing Tenten. Lee gained a best friend on the way and the Kazekage now has a permanent hawk line to Konoha. Neji is laughing.

Tenten tells Ino, after a sparring session, that the Hyūga Council didn't make as much noise as she expected them to be and together they send a “Congratulations, it's a girl!” thank-you card to Hinata and they laugh like idiots for the next three hours.

After that, life is pretty much the same as it has always been. They talk more than they used to, but their main relations still are with their respective teams. They meet for dango once a month and go to the onsen regularly. Something is born from what happened, though, something fierce and cruel, fervour on the best days and resentment on the worst.

Tenten takes the toughest missions, the ones where you're gone for six weeks and come home with mangled scars and heavy bruising. Ino trains to get into T&I and she's sticking to Shikamaru and Chōji like glue, probably to compensate for the horrors she must see in the department. Hinata, without telling anyone, joins ANBU.

Her father throws a fit, at which point Hinata reminds him that if he wanted her to stay close to the clan he shouldn't have named Hanabi heiress in her stead. So Hiashi tries to assign Neji to cover her, at which point Hinata reminds him that Neji is unfit for duty. The day ends with a very satisfied Hinata and a snickering Neji who takes her out to the sushi bar.

Sakura makes it her mission to get Kakashi's help on the mission-children problem without revealing that they're the one whom it happened to. It's a lot trickier than she expected and it takes her a long time to build up a case, because no one wants to testify. They're either terrified, or blackmailed, when she can find the names, because most of the women had the mission erased from their records and it's a pain to find them.

About a year after she started her crusade, she finds records of a woman named Kinokawa, no last name registered. It's too familiar for her to let it go, so she digs some more. She was a chūnin, with decent taijutsu and notes from her jōnin instructor that she could go tokujo with a year or two more of training. Then her records stop and her status went from _active_ to _unknown_.

 _Unknown_ doesn't happen in the shinobi system. You're either active, MIA, KIA or nukenin. That's it. _Unknown_ , she's never seen it before.

It takes her two weeks to figure it out, and only because she's been hanging out with Shikamaru, trying to get his help on intel she got from a mission at the Iwa border. Hearing him complain about his nagging parents all day becomes a fixed-point in her day, until it slaps her in the face as she's getting her ass kicked at shogi.

Shikamaru's mother is named Yoshino.

 

“Nara, you're a genius!” she shouts, making him jump in surprise from his slouched position.

“I... know?” he answers slowly as she gets on her feet, running to her room where the files are hidden.

 

She only needs a glance to verify what she expected and it's enough to get a victorious shout out of her. So she goes back to the shogi board and wipes the floor with Shikamaru.

The next day, she's sending a hawk to Yoshino inviting her to the tea shop.

The woman shows up with a confused face but open attitude and Sakura greets her with respect. They sit down and order, Yoshino showing much restraint in her curiosity.

 

“I'm thankful you replied to my invitation, Nara-san.”

“I admit I wanted to know what you could possibly want with me.”

“I'm here to ask you about a mission.”

 

Yoshino chuckles and hides her mouth behind her hand. Sakura hates whoever hurt this woman with a burning passion.

 

“I haven't taken missions in years, dear. I wonder what one of the Sannin could learn from it.”

“I'm not-”

“That's what people call you, sweetheart.”

Sakura grimaces. “It feels like stealing.”

“Back to the point,” Yoshino smiles.

“Yes, the mission. I just want you to know that I applied a secrecy seal to this table and no one will hear us. I'm on your side, Nara-san.”

 

Yoshino tenses but nods.

 

“I know about Kinokawa.”

Yoshino's demeanour changes entirely. “I don't know what you're talking about,” she says in a blank tone.

“I found the records. I'm not stupid, and most of all, _Kinokawa-san_ , I'm clanless.”

The woman takes a sharp breath. “Did they-”

“Yes, they did, but I found a way around it.”

“That's not possible.”

“That's what I thought too,” Sakura smiles, “but one of my friends happens to be a Hyūga. Nothing is impossible for the Noble Clans.”

“Why do you want to talk about this? It's behind me, now. I'm not Kinokawa anymore.”

“I know you are, inside. They can never destroy what makes you a shinobi.”

 

Yoshino stays silent a few minutes. Her hands are shaking.

 

“You know, I was one of the lucky ones. The Nara is one of the most decent clans. When Shikaku learned what his council had done, he exiled all of them and asked me to marry him. He said that way, I would have a clan and no one would ever hurt me again. He didn't even know my _name_.”

“So Shikamaru... ?”

“Yes. He's not Shikaku's son, though he's a Nara. He knows, because that boy is way too smart for his own good, but we told him Shikaku couldn't have children.”

“Maybe he deserves the truth, if he's to be Clan Head one day.”

“He does. I'm not sure if we'll ever be able to tell him.”

Sakura shakes her head. “He'll figure it out. He's the smartest person I know.”

“You're right. I'm sorry, but I still don't know why you'd want to talk to me.”

Sakura sets her jaw. “I want to get the practice abolished, the women compensated and the clans punished.”

“You're dreaming.”

“Nara-san, my best friend is a jinchūriki, the other one is the last Uchiha, my sensei is the current Hokage and my shishō is the previous one. I will get this into a law or I will die trying.”

“They'll send people after you.”

“Let them try. I hear I'm a Sannin, after all.”

 

Yoshino answers with a twisted smile.

Two hours later, she has a testimony, the Nara Clan Head's signature and the name of eight other women who might agree to talk to her.

 

It takes her years. _Years._ The bureaucracy is a nightmare, getting the testimony takes her time, and she still has to work to eat. Hinata's money can only last for so long and she's soon exhausting herself on ANBU roster because she's still the only field-medic with Black Ops level so she's sent on practically every ANBU mission needing one.

It pays well, until the Psychological Department takes one look at her record and orders her weekly appointments for her PTSD and self-destructive tendencies. The pills are fucking expensive but they're mandatory, so Sakura sucks it up and take twice the number of missions to compensate for the loss of income.

Hypocrisy, thy name is Sakura.

 

It all comes crashing down seven years after that day at the onsen.

The Yamanaka Quarters are behind the Aviary, which is as close to the market square as can be. The Yamanaka are social people. It does mean that when Ino destroys the door on her way out, two old men running awkwardly after her in their formal kimono, half of Konoha is there to witness it.

She's only wearing jōnin-issued pants and a chest binder, her feminine silhouette flattened to an androgynous look, blond hair hidden under a dark bandana.

 

“Ino-sama, please come back inside, you're making a scene,” says one of the old men.

“I'm making a scene? Do I look like I give a fuck?”

“This is clan business, my lady.”

“It's my business! And if I want it to be Konoha's, it fucking will be!”

 

Her father comes out, looking confused and vaguely reproving.

 

“Ino, calm down, we can talk about this.”

“There is nothing to talk about!”

“You're being unreasonable.”

 

She shouts in anger, her arms coating with chakra.

 

“UNREASONABLE?”

 

Inoichi flinches.

 

“How _dare_ you? My own father. How dare you side with those fuckers?”

“My lady!”

“Shut the fuck up! I'm talking!”

 

Wisely, they shut the fuck up.

 

“You're telling me I need to settle down and think about the bloodline, uh? You're telling me I need to look at your prospects, is that right?”

“Ino, you're twenty-six, it's a valid concern.”

“My concern, _Tō-san,_ is that you're more worried about your bloodline than what I could possibly want.”

“You're a clan heir, what you want isn't my main problem.”

 

Ino's laugh is rough and dry and she looks at her father like she's never seen him before.

 

“I have news for you, Yamanaka Inoichi. You wanted me to be a kunoichi until it suited you to call me back. You failed. Terribly. I grew up with the greatest genius the world has ever seen. My best friend is a Sannin. I am a shinobi, it's carved into my bones like the secrecy seals T&I puts on your ribs when you sign up.”

“Ino!”

“YES! I'm T&I all the way, my job is to cut fingers until people tell me what I want to know.” She bangs her fist against her flat chest. “I am a shinobi and _this_ is what a shinobi looks like.”

 

Then she takes a few steps towards the old men and spits at their feet.

 

“I'm done with you. Go find yourself another breeder, I have acid to pour into unwilling eyeballs.”

 

Ino is strike one.

 

Once Shikamaru and Chōji hear about, they're quick to burst into T&I and demand explanations. Ino is weary at first, until she understands that's they're furious on her behalf, not a her. So she explains her clan's demands but stays quiet about the other issues. But Shikamaru, like she stated before, is the greatest genius in the world.

He thinks back to all the times he's seen Sakura in Kakashi's office the last few months. He thinks back to the weird inquiries she sometimes leaves at the Archives. He doesn't have to think about it more than that, because a few days later, at the Hokage's office, an ANBU promotion form gets in his hands. Hinata is changing her status to “available for undercover” which, in Black Ops terms, means I don't mind fucking people to get information.

A Hyūga heir signing up for honeytrap missions has never happened in Konoha history.

Hinata is strike two.

 

Sakura is coming back from another hours-long session with Kakashi where they hammer down what will be the future Female Operatives Protection Law. She stops at the mission desk on her way out, to see if there's anything available. With Team 7's fame, she gets requests by name and they usually pay extremely well. In any case, she knows she should receive another ANBU assignment soon, but it never hurts to check.

There is, in fact, a request by name for her. From the Yamanaka. They're having heiress troubles, you see.

When she comes out of the Hokage Tower, Sakura is seething.

She makes a bee-line to the Yamanaka Quarters, where she finds Ino coming back from work. She stops her friend with a steel-like grip on her shoulder.

 

“Permission to enter clan grounds.”

“Granted?” Ino says with a startled voice. You don't ask permission when you're Haruno Sakura, unless what you're about to do will get you in trouble and having permission might get you out of it.

 

Sakura barges into the Quarters, the mission orders crumbling in her fist. Ino follows her quickly but doesn't ask questions. She has a feeling she knows what it's about, which makes it all the more impressive when Sakura doesn't destroy Inoichi's office's door on her way in.

 

“Ah, Haruno-san, I was hoping to hear from you. Do you-”

Sakura cuts him. “It's Haruno-sensei.”

“Pardon me?”

“My name, it's Haruno-sensei. I'm head of Konoha Central.”

“Right, right. So about my-”

Sakura interrupts him again.“I came here to give you your mission orders. I was thinking to myself, 'you know what Yamanaka needs?'”

“Haruno-san-”

“Haruno- _sensei_. 'That's right!' I thought to myself. 'He does need a broken nose!'”

 

Yamanaka Inoichi getting a broken nose is strike three.

 

That night, Sakura sends a hawk to Tenten, Hinata and Ino, and asks them permission to tell her teammates everything. Tenten answers a relieved message about how she was hoping to tell hers too. The two others don't take much convincing.

On the next day, all six members of Team 7 are in the Uchiha's main house, for lunch. Yamato, being the only responsible human being in their cluster, is in charge of cooking. Sakura is in charge of shaking anxiously under the kotatsu while her teammates stare at her in expectation.

 

“Right, so the reason I asked you here.”

 

She knows there's supposed to be a following to that sentence, but words are evading her right now.

 

“Hum.”

“Sakura-chan?”

“Yes. Yes. So, you guys know how I'm a clanless orphan?”

Sasuke chokes on his tomato. “You're a _what_?”

“... Surprise?”

Naruto blinks at her owlishly. “Your parents are dead?”

“Yeah? I thought that was common knowledge. Though now that I think about it, neither of you were in the village at the time.”

Sai eyes his teammates. “I believe the feeling I'm experiencing right now is disappointment. Dickless, Traitor, you _suck_.”

“Even I know that and I wasn't part of your team at the time,” Yamato says.

“How did it happen?” Sasuke says.

“They were attacked by nukenin on the way to Kiri and kept hostages until they realized there was no one who could pay for the ransom and the nukenin killed them.”

“No one? How about Konoha?”

Sakura snorts in laughter. “Yes, Sasuke, Konoha is going to pay a few millions ryō to deserters for a couple of civilian merchants. You got that right.”

“This village _sucks_ ,” Sai says, and Sakura realizes he probably learned that word today.

“Anyway, back to the point. I'm a clanless orphan, so I have no protection whatsoever. About a year after the war, I got a mission. The Council asked me to get pregnant with Kakashi-sensei's DNA and give them a Hatake baby.”

 

She realizes she could have said it with a little more tact, if the way they all turn pasty-white is anything to go by. These days, she finds she doesn't really care, though.

 

“So the law...”

“Yes, sensei. And I wasn't the only one.”

 

Sasuke looks like he's going to be sick.

 

“They got to Tenten before me. She was pregnant with a Hyūga baby and blackmailed into giving them another one after that.”

“That is horrifying,” Yamato says quietly.

“I want you to realize, it's not just us. I've been looking around. In the past twenty years, forty-six clanless women were forced to give birth to bloodline children, often at the cost of their careers, and they never saw their baby again.”

“I can't believe this,” Sasuke says. “It's disgusting.”

“How can this happen?”

“We're clanless women, Naruto. Your jinchūriki status, despite how much horrors it brought you, kept you sheltered in a way a clan could have. Plus, you're all men. There's nothing they can ask of you.”

“What can we do to help?” Sai asks. He's all too familiar with being asked things he doesn't want to do.

Sakura shrugs. “Not much. We're writing a law to stop it, but it won't work immediately. The Clan Heads are pushing for children, you probably heard about Ino's fight with her father.”

“We did,” Yamato chuckles.

“Yeah, well the Yamanaka sent me a mission request to make them a kid.”

“I'm going to kill them,” Naruto growls.

“I can take care of myself,” she snarls in return. “I didn't wait for you to know about this to do everything in my power to stop it.”

 

She shifts under the kotatsu.

 

“I received the first mission eight years ago. I didn't wait for you”, she repeats.

Sai narrows his eyes. “What did you do?”

“I removed the baby-making parts.”

 

The silence is deafening.

 

“Oh, stop it. It took me forty-five minutes in my own bathtub, I'm fine.”

“Dude, that's why you're bathtub is pink?” Naruto says.

“ _That's_ your concern?” Sasuke yells.

 

Sakura snorts unattractively, laughter pooling in her throat until it's spilling. Sai is looking at her like she's a very strange Kiri animal or something.

 

Sasuke filling out papers to adopt Sakura into his clan is strike four.

 

The next morning, everyone in the Konoha 11 is aware of what happened to their female teammates, and they're _pissed_. Because they're passive-aggressive sweethearts with vicious minds, they start carefully.

Neji and Sasuke are seen together at a knitting shop buying yarn. A month later, as January and its white snow are making an appearance, all the Konoha 11 have matching sweaters.

Kiba takes to running around in the village, bringing lunch to all of them when they're working. If they're going on missions, he's waiting at the gates with extra pairs of gloves and storage scrolls filled with rations. Chōji teaches him how to cook and they become the sole providers of food for their take-out dependents friends.

Shikamaru took the news about his mother pretty well, all things considered. Which is why he's the designated nurse whenever one of them catches a cold, bringing them Nara cures directly from the clan's gardens. He tracks down the women who had to raise their child because they weren't born with the desired bloodlines, and offers to babysit.

Naruto is making a ruckus at the Tower, trying to get the law to pass through sheer annoyance value.

Shino and Lee team up until they get their clans to fight for the right to adopt Tenten, which is a nice ego boost for her and an hilarious moment for them. The Aburame win when they offer to teach her clan techniques to put chakra-sucking seals on her weapons.

When the Council starts to make noises about being respectable shinobi and showing the example by restarting your clan (Sasuke), getting a real job (Neji) or taking on more manly hobbies (Kiba and Shikamaru), they're threatened with kekkai-genkai extinction from the last Uchiha and it's enough to shut them up.

One morning, Sakura realizes she hasn't been on a date in eight years and she blinks at her reflection in the mirror.

An hour later, Kiba is at her door with her daily lunch bag. He's smiling and telling her a terrible joke while pushing delicious food into her waiting hands. _Que demande le peuple_.

 

“Hey, Kiba.”

“Yeah?”

“Wanna go on a date?”

 

He looks at her with confusion, before grinning even wider.

 

“Sure!”

 

Strike five ends with Sakura making out like a teenager at Ichiraku and pretending not to see when Ino sneaks in by Ayame's window while Teuchi is looking the other way.

 

At the end of year nine after the onsen events, the Female Operatives Protection Law is passed. Kakashi takes the opportunity and the divided attention to quietly resign and pass over the mantle to Naruto. His first act as Nanadaime Hokage is to marry Lee, Shino and Tenten, once he made sure three people marrying each other was legal (it is, thank you Senju Tobirama and the weird shit you've probably seen to pass that law).

Tenten's brown skin is lovely in her pristine white kimono, the Aburame symbol emblazoned on the back. Lee wraps an arm around Shino's waist, who wraps an arm around Tenten's shoulders.

 

Nine years ago, it started with Tenten.

 

**Author's Note:**

> Google Search History for this story includes:  
> • sterilization  
> • reproductive organs anatomy  
> • japanese hangover food  
> • how to make a law  
> • surgery recovery  
> • worth of Naruto money  
> • where is the fucking Yamanaka Compound  
> • what is an aviary  
> • Yoshino Kinokawa river  
> • how to say nut in japanese


End file.
